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The Clean Cities Coalition Network is a coordinated group of nearly 100 coalitions in the United States working in communities across the country to advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels, energy-efficient mobility systems, and other fuel-saving technologies and practices. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office facilitates national coordination of the coalitions through its Technology Integration Program. The Network consists of 79 coalitions that work with more than 15,000 local stakeholders that have helped shift nearly 10 billion gasoline gallon equivalents of conventional (fossil) fuel to alternative fuels or energy efficiency improvements, put more than 1.1 million alternative fuel vehicles on the road, and contributed to the expansion of alternative fueling station infrastructure since 1993. As of early 2020, there were more than 29,000 fueling stations nationwide that provide at least one of the following alternative fuels: ethanol (E85), biodiesel, compressed natural gas (CNG), electric, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas (LNG), renewable natural gas, or propane.
Illinois' Clean Cities coalition began as Chicago Area Clean Cities on May 13, 1994, and was the fifth Clean Cities coalition to launch under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, founded in 1993. In 2022, the coalition expanded to include the entire state and changed its name to Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation (IACT).
IACT's mission is to advance the energy, economic, and environmental security of the U.S. by supporting the reduction of petroleum consumption. This is accomplished at the local level through:
In 30 years, IACT has displaced 200 million gasoline-gallon equivalents of petroleum, reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 159,000 tons, encouraged stakeholders to use 13,000 alternative fuel, electric and hybrid vehicles, and helped create 1,700 new electric vehicle charging stations in the Chicago area.
IACT has memberships and sponsorships available. Membership is for public and private fleets, federal, state and local governments, corporations, small business, car dealerships, fuel suppliers, conversion companies, electric vehicle charging suppliers, environmental groups, and individuals. Membership is $75 for individuals and $200 for fleets (corporate or government) (2024). Sponsorships range from $1,000 to $10,000 and include varying benefits (2024).
IACT supports many events within the clean transportation sector but also currently hosts Green Drives Conference and Expo annually in two different Illinois cities. The conference is one of the largest clean-transportation conferences held in the Midwest and is a must-attend event for government officials, commercial and municipal fleet managers, corporate sustainability officers, and clean-tech and clean-energy professionals who want to learn how to use cleaner, lower emissions fuels and technologies, while saving money.
Advanced vehicle technologies, electric vehicles, and alternative fuels are showcased, including dozens of green vehicles and exhibitors. Attendees not only have a chance to network with experts from throughout the nation and the region, but learn of first-hand experiences from fleets currently using alternative fuels and electric vehicles.
The State of Indiana contains only one designated Clean Cities coalitions: Drive Clean Indiana. Established on June 15, 1999, by the U.S. Department of Energy, Drive Clean Indiana serves the entire state of Indiana. They are the 71st designated United States Clean Cities Coalition.
Drive Clean Indiana constantly focuses on all Indiana communities. There is a distinct path towards understanding, communicating, and educating all of Indiana's communities. Through these steps, Drive Clean Indiana continues to promote alternative fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, foster public/private partnerships, and support economic development. Drive Clean Indiana is a government/industry partnership designed to help reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector. Located in an area that has suffered the devastating environmental impact of the industrial practices of the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, Drive Clean Indiana is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing not only just Northern Indiana but the entire state by promoting the use of clean fuels and clean vehicles technology.[tone] As of 2022 reports, Drive Clean Indiana has strong support from their board members and their 450 stakeholders. This collaboration is backed by the founding Legacy Environmental Services, Inc., an Indiana Certified Women's Business Enterprise. Annual Energy Impact 23,259,550 gasoline gallon equivalents Annual Energy Impact by Alternative Fuel Vehicle Project Type 21,419,173 gasoline gallon equivalents Annual Emissions Reduced 105,771 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) Emissions Reduced by Alternative Fuel Vehicle Project Type 83,908 tons of CO2e.
Some of Drive Clean Indiana's projects:
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority. Better known as simply "Metro," the authority provides transit services to the metropolitan area in and around Washington, D.C. The authority has a fleet of 1,500 buses, including 74 hybrid electric buses and Metro plans to have nearly 500 more hybrid-electric buses by 2012. Vice Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who last year[ when? ] committed to convert the entire Maryland Transit Administration bus fleet to hybrid-electric buses by 2014. Maryland has already accelerated its purchase of hybrid-electric buses with the help of Recovery Act funds (Clean Cities). [1]
The state of Tennessee has two designated Clean Cities coalitions: the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and the Middle-West Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition. They sometimes operate under the shared name "Tennessee Clean Fuels". Both were designated in 2004, and collectively serve the entire state.
Many fleets in Tennessee use alternative fuels like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; cities like Knoxville, Nashville, Sevierville and Kingsport; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; utilities and airports; mass transit agencies; and large international companies like UPS and Waste Management.
The East Tennessee coalition - ETCleanFuels - has started numerous projects and initiatives over the years. Here are a few examples:
The state of Wisconsin has one Clean City coalition designated in 1994 called Wisconsin Clean Cities.
Empire Clean Cities is the Clean Cities coalition for New York City & the Lower Hudson Valley (Westchester, Rockland, & Putnam Counties). ECC was incorporated in 2007 and was formerly known as New York City & Lower Hudson Valley Clean Cities.
On 2009 Earth Day, Vice President Joe Biden announced the availability of $300 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for state and local governments and transit authorities to expand the nation's fleet of clean, sustainable vehicles and the fueling infrastructure necessary to support them. The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles Pilot Program supported 25 cost-share projects involving alternative fuels or advanced vehicles in collaboration with 50 Clean Cities coalitions and 700 stakeholders who provided an additional $500 million in matching funds. Eligible technologies included a number of different light- and heavy-duty vehicles, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid electric, hydraulic hybrid, electric, fuel cell, and compressed natural gas vehicles. In addition, projects supported refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels, including biofuels and natural gas. Other efforts eligible for funds included public awareness campaigns and training programs on alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and infrastructure. The program required a 50% cost share from participants. [1]
These projects established 1,380 alternative fueling stations and put more than 9,000 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles on the road while supporting U.S. energy independence and contributing to regional economic development. The Clean Cities Coalition Network compiled a report, Designing a Successful Transportation Project: Lessons Learned from the Clean Cities American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Projects, summarizing high-level project design and administrative considerations for conducting a successful transportation project.
In 2009, the California Cars Initiative stated that the Clean Cities American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project Awards included a scattering of funding for electrification and charging stations, but most of it was for carbon-based liquid fuels or non-pluggable hybrids. [2] Clean Cities federal funding in 2010-2011 was set up with a majority of the funding favoring plug-in EVs and HEVs. However, the amount of funding and focus of that funding ebbs and flows between the alternative fuels over time due to advances in technology and interest in those fuels. CNG and propane were more popular in the early 2000s, the biofuels ethanol and biodiesel took center stage in the mid-2000s.
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded nearly $460 million through its funding opportunities for hundreds of projects across the country to implement alternative fuels and energy-efficient vehicle technologies. These awards leveraged almost $1.2 billion more in matching funds and in-kind contributions from the private and public sectors. These project awards contribute to advancing affordable, domestic transportation fuels and fuel-saving technologies and practices.
Funded projects have included:
Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are fuels derived from sources other than petroleum. Alternative fuels include gaseous fossil fuels like propane, natural gas, methane, and ammonia; biofuels like biodiesel, bioalcohol, and refuse-derived fuel; and other renewable fuels like hydrogen and electricity.
The hydrogen economy is an umbrella term for the roles hydrogen can play alongside low-carbon electricity to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The aim is to reduce emissions where cheaper and more energy-efficient clean solutions are not available. In this context, hydrogen economy encompasses the production of hydrogen and the use of hydrogen in ways that contribute to phasing-out fossil fuels and limiting climate change.
Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; the source of energy; and the infrastructure used to accommodate the transport. Transport operations and logistics as well as transit-oriented development are also involved in evaluation. Transportation sustainability is largely being measured by transportation system effectiveness and efficiency as well as the environmental and climate impacts of the system. Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between 20% and 25% of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The majority of the emissions, almost 97%, came from direct burning of fossil fuels. In 2019, about 95% of the fuel came from fossil sources. The main source of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union is transportation. In 2019 it contributes to about 31% of global emissions and 24% of emissions in the EU. In addition, up to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions have only increased in this one sector. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog.
A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) or fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell, sometimes in combination with a small battery or supercapacitor, to power its onboard electric motor. Fuel cells in vehicles generate electricity generally using oxygen from the air and compressed hydrogen. Most fuel cell vehicles are classified as zero-emissions vehicles. As compared with internal combustion vehicles, hydrogen vehicles centralize pollutants at the site of the hydrogen production, where hydrogen is typically derived from reformed natural gas. Transporting and storing hydrogen may also create pollutants. Fuel cells have been used in various kinds of vehicles including forklifts, especially in indoor applications where their clean emissions are important to air quality, and in space applications. Fuel cells are being developed and tested in trucks, buses, boats, ships, motorcycles and bicycles, among other kinds of vehicles.
A green vehicle, clean vehicle, eco-friendly vehicle or environmentally friendly vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on gasoline or diesel, or one that uses certain alternative fuels. Presently, in some countries the term is used for any vehicle complying or surpassing the more stringent European emission standards, or California's zero-emissions vehicle standards, or the low-carbon fuel standards enacted in several countries.
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is a U.S. national laboratory under the Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy. NETL focuses on applied research for the clean production and use of domestic energy resources. It performs research and development on the supply, efficiency, and environmental constraints of producing and using fossil energy resources while maintaining affordability.
The FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (FCVT) was a national Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program developing more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly highway transportation technologies to enable the United States to use less petroleum. Run by Michael Berube, it had long-term aims to develop "leap-frog" technologies to provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security, lower costs, and reduce environmental impacts.
A hybrid electric bus is a bus that combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. These type of buses normally use a Diesel–electric powertrain and are also known as hybrid Diesel–electric buses.
A bivalent engine is an engine that can use two different types of fuel. Examples are petroleum/CNG and petroleum/LPG engines, which are widely available in the European passenger vehicle aftermarket.
The United States produces mainly biodiesel and ethanol fuel, which uses corn as the main feedstock. The US is the world's largest producer of ethanol, having produced nearly 16 billion gallons in 2017 alone. The United States, together with Brazil accounted for 85 percent of all ethanol production, with total world production of 27.05 billion gallons. Biodiesel is commercially available in most oilseed-producing states. As of 2005, it was somewhat more expensive than fossil diesel, though it is still commonly produced in relatively small quantities, in comparison to petroleum products and ethanol fuel.
An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on alternative fuel rather than traditional petroleum fuels. The term also refers to any technology powering an engine that does not solely involve petroleum. Because of a combination of factors, such as environmental and health concerns including climate change and air pollution, high oil-prices and the potential for peak oil, development of cleaner alternative fuels and advanced power systems for vehicles has become a high priority for many governments and vehicle manufacturers around the world.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, originally named the Clean Energy Act of 2007, is an Act of Congress concerning the energy policy of the United States. As part of the Democratic Party's 100-Hour Plan during the 110th Congress, it was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative Nick Rahall of West Virginia, along with 198 cosponsors. Even though Rahall was 1 of only 4 Democrats to oppose the final bill, it passed in the House without amendment in January 2007. When the Act was introduced in the Senate in June 2007, it was combined with Senate Bill S. 1419: Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This amended version passed the Senate on June 21, 2007. After further amendments and negotiation between the House and Senate, a revised bill passed both houses on December 18, 2007 and President Bush, a Republican, signed it into law on December 19, 2007, in response to his "Twenty in Ten" challenge to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% in 10 years.
The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person. In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GHG, followed by the United States with 11%, then India with 6.6%. In total the United States has emitted a quarter of world GHG, more than any other country. Annual emissions are over 15 tons per person and, amongst the top eight emitters, is the highest country by greenhouse gas emissions per person.
A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, with no secondary source of propulsion. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of internal combustion engines (ICEs) for propulsion. They derive all power from battery packs and thus have no internal combustion engine, fuel cell, or fuel tank. BEVs include – but are not limited to – motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, railcars, watercraft, forklifts, buses, trucks, and cars.
The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is supported by the American federal government, and several states and local governments.
Hybrid taxi or hybrid electric taxi is a taxicab service provided with a hybrid electric car (HEV), which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system.
The fleet of flexible-fuel vehicles in the United States is the second largest in the world after Brazil, and there were more than 21 million 85 flex-fuel vehicles registered in the country by the end of 2017. Despite the growing fleet of E85 flex-fuel vehicles, actual use of ethanol fuel is limited due to the lack of E85 refueling infrastructure and also because many North American flex-fuel car owners were not aware they owned an E85 flex-fuel vehicle. Flex-fuel vehicles are common in the Midwest, where corn is a major crop and is the primary feedstock for ethanol fuel production. Also the U.S. government has been using flex-fuel vehicles for many years.
United States policy in regard to biofuels, such as ethanol fuel and biodiesel, began in the early 1990s as the government began looking more intensely at biofuels as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and increase the nation's overall sustainability. Since then, biofuel policies have been refined, focused on getting the most efficient fuels commercially available, creating fuels that can compete with petroleum-based fuels, and ensuring that the agricultural industry can support and sustain the use of biofuels.
The principle of a fuel cell was discovered by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838, and the first fuel cell was constructed by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839. The fuel cells made at this time were most similar to today's phosphoric acid fuel cells. Most hydrogen fuel cells today are of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) type. A PEM converts the chemical energy released during the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy. The Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1990 and Energy Policy Act of 1992 were the first national legislative articles that called for large-scale hydrogen demonstration, development, and research programs. A five-year program was conducted that investigated the production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources and the feasibility of existing natural gas pipelines to carry hydrogen. It also called for the research into hydrogen storage systems for electric vehicles and the development of fuel cells suitable to power an electric motor vehicle.
Mobile source air pollution includes any air pollution emitted by motor vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, and other engines and equipment that can be moved from one location to another. Many of these pollutants contribute to environmental degradation and have negative effects on human health. To prevent unnecessary damage to human health and the environment, environmental regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have established policies to minimize air pollution from mobile sources. Similar agencies exist at the state level. Due to the large number of mobile sources of air pollution, and their ability to move from one location to another, mobile sources are regulated differently from stationary sources, such as power plants. Instead of monitoring individual emitters, such as an individual vehicle, mobile sources are often regulated more broadly through design and fuel standards. Examples of this include corporate average fuel economy standards and laws that ban leaded gasoline in the United States. The increase in the number of motor vehicles driven in the U.S. has made efforts to limit mobile source pollution challenging. As a result, there have been a number of different regulatory instruments implemented to reach the desired emissions goals.